Ghana And Vanuatu Earn Promotion In Samoa

Ghana And Vanuatu Earn Promotion In Samoa

Ghana man of the match Isaac Aboye

©International Cricket Council

In the cross over group match on Garden Oval 3, host nation Samoa were on a mission after the disappointment of their loss to Vanuatu yesterday.

Playing a winless Bhutan side, Samoa was relentless from the opening ball of the innings to dismantle the Bhutan top order and see them 72-8.

However a late flurry of runs from Phuntsho Wangdi and Lobzang Yonten put some respectability in the scorecard and Bhutan was eventually bowled out for 129.

For Samoa Naamanu Vaasili was brilliant taking three for 27.

In reply Dilip Subba caused an early scare for Samoa playing a hand in a run out and taking the wickets of key pair Sean Cotter and Ben Mailata.

However defending 129 was always going to be difficult and Samoa cruised to victory in 25.1 overs thanks to 49 from man of the match Taitoe Kaisala.

“It was a tough game today against Bhutan so despite the disappointment of yesterday we are happy to have this win,” said Kaisala. “I was happy with how I hit them today and just tried to be careful with the good balls.”

In the other cross over group match on Garden Oval 4 Suriname won the toss and elected to bat against Norway who was also looking for their first win.

In Suriname’s best performance of the event Mohindra Boodram produced a flawless innings to provide the tournament with its first century maker. Boodram made a magnificent 103 off 114 balls and lead his side to 235-6 after 50 overs.

Norway struggled to put up much resistance to the rejuvenated Suriname outfit and failed to produce a multiple wicket taker. 

Chasing the largest score posted so far at the event Norway produced a brilliant run chase lead by their skipper Muhammad Shahbaz Butt who entertained with 77 runs to guide his side to victory.

“We’ve had a few tight matches and in most games only a few things have clicked, but today everything clicked so we are pleased to finish well,” said Norway captain Muhammad Shahbaz Butt.

Norway will now play Samoa in the 5th/6th classification match while Suriname will meet Bhutan in the battle for 7th.

Tomorrow is a rest day with the final and classification matches on Saturday

Saturday’s Matches

Final
Vanuatu v Ghana
Garden Oval 1

3rd/4th Classification
Japan v Belgium
Garden Oval 2

5th/6th Classification
Samoa v Norway
Garden Oval 3

7th/8th Classification
Bhutan v Suriname
Garden Oval 4

Scores in Brief

At Garden Ovals 1
Vanuatu 227-9, 50 overs (P Matautaava 48, N Nipiko 37; A Wagener 4-66)
Belgium 144 all out, 44.1 overs (A Iqbal 34, N Shah 31; J Chilia 2-12, P Matautaava 2-19)
Vanuatu won by 83 runs
Man of the Match: Patrick Matautaava (Vanuatu)

At Garden Ovals 2
Ghana 198 all out, 48.1 overs (S Awiah 28; D Mee 3-21, N Miyaji 2-18)
Japan 136 all out, 46.2 overs (T Chino 24; I Aboagye 3-32, O Harvey 2-18)
Ghana won by 62 runs
Man of the Match:  Isaac Aboagye (Ghana)

At Garden Ovals 3
Bhutan 129 all out, 46.4 overs (P Wangdi 33, S Tobgay 31; N Vaasili 3-27, I West 2-9)
Samoa 130-4, 25.1 overs (T Kaisala 49; D Subba 2-36)
Samoa won by 6 wickets
Man of the Match: Taitoe Kaisala (Samoa)

At Garden Ovals 4
Suriname 235-6, 50 overs (M Boodram 103no, C Douglas 45; Z Siddiqui 1-25)
Norway 238-6, 47.4 overs (M Butt 77, E Ul Haq 49; V Shaw 2-16)
Norway won by 5 wickets
Man of the Match: Mohindra Boodram (Suriname)